Robin Wright Reveals How She Fought for—and Won—Equal Pay on House of Cards

In a speech before the Rockefeller Foundation on Tuesday, actress Robin Wright detailed her fight—and ultimate victory—in securing equal pay for her starring role as Claire Underwood on Netflix's House of Cards.

"I was like, 'I want to be paid the same as Kevin [Spacey]’" Wright said. "It was the perfect paradigm. There are very few films or TV shows where the male, the patriarch, and the matriarch are equal. And they are in House of Cards.”

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Wright has starred alongside Spacey (who plays her character's husband, the manipulative politician Frank Underwood) since the series began in 2013 and has appeared in all 52 episodes. Business Insider reported in 2014 that though Spacey earned $500,000 per episode, Wright's salary amounted to about $420,000 an episode. In a total Claire move, Wright used her character's widespread popularity, and the very public reporting on salary discrepancies, to her advantage when negotiating.

“I was looking at the statistics and Claire Underwood's character was more popular than [Frank's] for a period of time. So I capitalised on it,” she said. “I was like, 'You better pay me or I’m going to go public. And they did.”

Wright adds to the growing number of actresses—like Jennifer Lawrence and Patricia Arquette—speaking out against Hollywood's gender pay gap. Here's hoping that, as the feds begin investigating the ongoing sexism and discrimination in the entertainment industry, more women speak out for what they deserve.